A recent trend in today's electronic communication devices has been to communicatively connect the electronic device main body to an accessory headset, thereby allowing for hands-free telephonic communication or recording/reproduction. A headset is an accessory that includes both an earphone for listening, e.g., headphones or one or two earbuds, as well as a microphone (“mic”) for receiving a user's voice input. Both wired and wireless headset designs are widely available. The headset microphone converts the user's voice input to a suitable analog or digital signal which is forwarded for processing to communication circuitry within the base unit housing of the electronic device.
A user can connect the headset to the electronic device and listen to sound such as sound source or video saved in the electronic device, or the voice of another party during a telephone call. When the user listens to music, etc. using the earphone connected to the electronic device, he/she can concentrate on the corresponding sound regardless of a surrounding environment and does not generate noise to other people around him/her. Also, in the case of a mobile phone, the user may make a call using the microphone of the headset which is maintained hands-free in proximity to the user's lips, rather than using a speakerphone on the phone's housing or continually holding the phone to his ear.
However, when the headset is connected (wirelessly or in a wired connection) to the electronic device, the mic(s) on the device housing is automatically disabled. The user, however, may occasionally try the call using a mic on the housing even though it's disabled and only the mic of the earphone is enabled. That is, when the headphone is still connected, the user might speak into the phone directly rather than the headphone mic, out of habit. As a result, the voice signal received by the headset mic may be of poor quality and barely discernible by the other party.